Saturday 25 February 2012
Thursday 23 February 2012
Pieces created from other texts
This Maddona Song (Hung Up) takes it's background music from Abba's Gimme Gimme Gimme (A man after midnight)
Otis - Jay-Z and Kayne takes samples from Otis Reddings - Take a little tenderness
This Marylin Manson song samples from Sweet Dreams - Eurythmics
Eminem's Stan takes samples from Dido's Thankyou
Tuesday 21 February 2012
'So bad it's good'
The postmodern sensibility that anything can be considered cool in an ironic ‘I know it’s bad,but it’s so bad it’s good’ way
Sunday 5 February 2012
What is creativity?
AS PRELIM;
I didn't particularly have an inspiring magazine that I took inspiration from as I did minimal research and planning. I used the colour scheme purely from what Becca was wearing on the day. I didn't experiment with fonts or layout I just tried to make it look good. I think I did a decent job as I never had used photo shop before; this reflects how resourceful I was in the duration of this task.
AS COURSEWORK;
Originality; I didn't particularly have the mindset of being 'original' throughout this task, I wanted to create a piece of work that was effective and got me the marks. However on the contents page I took heavy inspiration from the ELLE contents page from September 2010.Imagination & Vision; I had a set idea on how i wanted my magazine to look from the beginning of research and planning so I played around with my ideas in order to create something that I was completely happy with.
Inventiveness; In this task I would say that in some respects I have been more inventive than in other tasks, but in others I haven't. I took inspiration from the first double page spread in the ELLE edition with Gwyneth Paltrow on the cover. Her first double page spread said 'Viva la Vida' so I changed mine to a more contemporary song in relation to the genre of my magazine. I also wanted my magazine to look more classy than the average 'pop' magazine such as smash hits.
Resourcefulness; In terms of being resourceful I made the most of what I had each lesson and the time I had with my chosen model. Photo shop at school was extremely annoying to use as the computers were so incredibly slow it made it almost impossible to get any work done. I also did a majority of the work at home. I took roughly 250 photos of my model to make sure I had the best possible shots I could get to put into my magazine.
Creativeness; I would say I was creative within the boundaries of this task as I made the most of the time given and did extra work to ensure my grade was good as possible. I think I did a different 'look' of pop music magazines in comparsion to what is already on the market. However I used many existing conventions of music magazines which could mean I was less creative than I could have been.
How creative do you think you've been?I think that honestly this is the task in which I have been most creative as it is the one that has appealed personally most to me and that I have most interest in. Due to this initial interest I think it spurred me on to make my work as good as possible. I did take a lot of inspiration from ELLE magazine, yet this could be discrediting as it is a fashion magazine as oppose to a music magazine. I tried to edit my photos in different ways and play around with the layout in order to create something that looks both aesthetically pleasing and fits well as a music magazine. I chose a target audience that enjoyed fashion as well as music - thus encouraging them to buy the magazine.
What has prevented you from being more creative?The creativity of this task has definatley been hindered by time constraints, money, equipment and experience constraints. However this didn't hinder specifically me as everyone was in the same boat. The main thing that has prevented me being as creative I possibly could be is the quality of the school computers; as they have consumed more time than necessary.
A2 PRELIM TASK;
As this was a whole group effort it is hard to state my individual accomplishments throughout this task. Performing as the teacher in this video didn't particularly improve my skill in any 'media' skill relevant to this post.
However, I learnt how to edit properly on the mac's which helped extremely when editing our music videos. It could have helped more if we actually used iMovie on our music video rather than premier elements, however it is a similar kind of concept. I also learnt that it is important to group shots together to ease shooting and be as time effective as possible.
A2 MUSIC VIDEO;
Origniality
Judging the final product I wouldn't say that our video is original. We cherrypicked ideas that we both liked from different music videos from this genre in order to create a video that we were both satisfied with. We took a lot of inspiration from Bombay Bicycle club's 'Always Like This' as we felt the shots could also fit into the song that we chose. (Wreckin' Bar - The Vaccines). Contrasting on this point I would say that it is extremely different to be orignial in this day an age, especially with all the contstraints that we had in creating our music video.
Imagination and Inventiveness
We did extensive research and planning so we could both agree on a plan for our music video that we were both satisfied with, although I think it would be fair to judge our imagination to its full extent if we had an unlimited budget, as much time as we needed and all the equipment that is used to create existing music videos as this video isn't a true test of our imagination.
Inspiration
The inspiration for our music video stemmed from many different ' alternative ' music videos. As I have said, we cherry picked the conventions we liked the most and incorporated them into our video. It would be fair to say that our whole music video was inspiration from somewhere, as it would be increasingly difficult to find a video which invents new conventions and proves to be completely original.
Resourcefulness
Considering the time, money and equipment boundaries I would say we were very resourceful. We made the most of our time and what we had in order to create a product that was to the best of our ability. Although with 5 of us being involved in creating the video, it was very hard for us all to have spare time to make it at the same time. Another issue with time would be the school computers which used twice as much time as intended due to software not loading or clips not being transferred to the computer properly. This became increasingly frustrating throughout the editing process.
Vision
Our vision for this video was reasonably similar to our final product. However I think an honest answer would be that we had greater expectations to what our video would turn out like in comparsion to what it did. I'm not saying I was disappointed in our final product but if we hadn't had high expectations our video would probably not have been what it was.
How creative do you think you've been?
Again, I do not think we have been as creative as we possibly could have been as we used existing ideas in the video that we finished creating. However arguing against this would be the statement that 'originality is dead' and that being truly 'creative ' is not something you can measure - merely an opinion.
What has prevented you from being more creative?
The obvious issues that have prevented us from being more creative is time constraints, financial constraints and equipment constraints. These are all reasonably self explanatory and expected of us as none of us had hundreds to spend on a music video, we had deadlines and were provided with the mediocre equipment from school. Saying this everyone in our year has been in more or less the same boat, thus not making anyones video too drastically different concerning these constraints than another.
A2 ANCILLARY TASK
Originality
Taking heavy inspiration from Vampire Weekend's 'Contra' I would say my digipack isn't as original as it perhaps could have been. However I wasn't aiming to make something 'cutting edge' and original. I was aiming to make something that fitted my genre and suited the band look I was trying to achieve. I would say that my poster is slightly more original as I didn't have an existing product that I based my poster on, as I played around with the layout and went with what was the most aesthetically pleasing and looked like a real magazine advert for an album.
I used the conventions of existing digipack/poster products because if they weren't succesful, they wouldn't be used.
Imagination and Inspiration
I would say that I was imaginitive within the boundaries of the task set. I wanted something that looked realistic without being too ambitious. I used the colour of my models t-shirt to make the advert/digipack look less bland for one.
Then again my 'imagination' could be discredited as I took heavy inspiration from Vampire Weekend's 'Contra' for my digipack.
Resourcefulness
I was as resourceful as possible with this task, ensuring I made the best of my time out of school and in school in order to shoot, compose and edit the photos in order for the best results. I don't think I wasted time on this task as I enjoy editing and manipulating images on photoshop.
Vision
I didn't have a specific 'vision' I just knew that I wanted it to look as though it fitted in with the indie culture. I was pleased with how it turned out and was very lucky with the pictures that I took.
How creative do you think you've been?
I would say I have been more creative on this task than on my video as I enjoy this kind of work a lot more than creating a video, thus I am more motivated to make something good as I know I can use photoshop and manipulate images well. However this could be argued as I took a lot of inspiration from other texts for my digipack; questioning my creativity.
OVERALL
Has a set menu of tasks made it easier to be creative or would you have preferred a free choice on what to make? Where you pinned down too much by the task? Or did it free you up to be creative with in the boundaries of the task?
I think with all of the tasks, been given set boundaries was a good idea. In my opinion it uses the same concept of been asked to write an essay without a title; extremely difficult to do. I liked the freeness of what you can make within the task e.g what genre of music magazine as that gave your work an identity and made sure you could put your own 'stamp' on it so to speak.
I think been given these boundaries within the task it allowed you to be more detailed as we were given more guidance as opposed to everyone doing a different task and the teacher not being able to specialise.
It was hard to show creativity in this task as we had minimal knowledge on the subject of magazine covers/contents pages and had limited time in which to create one. I was perhaps more original in this task than my coursework task as I didn't particularly take inspiration from anything to create this - I simply used my previous knowledge of how magazines looked.
I tried to link the theme of 'Drama' into the images I took by making Becca act energetic and confident; I used Becca as we had huge time restraints and she was available at the time I needed her. I didn't particularly have an inspiring magazine that I took inspiration from as I did minimal research and planning. I used the colour scheme purely from what Becca was wearing on the day. I didn't experiment with fonts or layout I just tried to make it look good. I think I did a decent job as I never had used photo shop before; this reflects how resourceful I was in the duration of this task.
How creative do you think you've been?I think I was more creative in comparison to my AS coursework in some respects as I did minimal research and planning and had little previous background knowledge in magazine layout and editing. I stuck to a three pallet colour scheme and incorporate images of my cover model into my my magazine/cover. However my preliminary task was evidently less effective looking than my main products.
What has prevented you from being more creative? My knowledge of magazine layout and editing hindered my creativity in the sense of I simply didn't know how to make it look good. The time constraints were a huge issue as I couldn't improve my work as we had 3 lessons to create our magazine. I also couldn't chose my ideal model as I had to use who was available. My knowledge of photo shop was limited also, so being taught how to use that would have enhanced my creativity on this task.
AS COURSEWORK;
Originality; I didn't particularly have the mindset of being 'original' throughout this task, I wanted to create a piece of work that was effective and got me the marks. However on the contents page I took heavy inspiration from the ELLE contents page from September 2010.Inventiveness; In this task I would say that in some respects I have been more inventive than in other tasks, but in others I haven't. I took inspiration from the first double page spread in the ELLE edition with Gwyneth Paltrow on the cover. Her first double page spread said 'Viva la Vida' so I changed mine to a more contemporary song in relation to the genre of my magazine. I also wanted my magazine to look more classy than the average 'pop' magazine such as smash hits.
Resourcefulness; In terms of being resourceful I made the most of what I had each lesson and the time I had with my chosen model. Photo shop at school was extremely annoying to use as the computers were so incredibly slow it made it almost impossible to get any work done. I also did a majority of the work at home. I took roughly 250 photos of my model to make sure I had the best possible shots I could get to put into my magazine.
Creativeness; I would say I was creative within the boundaries of this task as I made the most of the time given and did extra work to ensure my grade was good as possible. I think I did a different 'look' of pop music magazines in comparsion to what is already on the market. However I used many existing conventions of music magazines which could mean I was less creative than I could have been.
How creative do you think you've been?I think that honestly this is the task in which I have been most creative as it is the one that has appealed personally most to me and that I have most interest in. Due to this initial interest I think it spurred me on to make my work as good as possible. I did take a lot of inspiration from ELLE magazine, yet this could be discrediting as it is a fashion magazine as oppose to a music magazine. I tried to edit my photos in different ways and play around with the layout in order to create something that looks both aesthetically pleasing and fits well as a music magazine. I chose a target audience that enjoyed fashion as well as music - thus encouraging them to buy the magazine.
What has prevented you from being more creative?The creativity of this task has definatley been hindered by time constraints, money, equipment and experience constraints. However this didn't hinder specifically me as everyone was in the same boat. The main thing that has prevented me being as creative I possibly could be is the quality of the school computers; as they have consumed more time than necessary.
As this was a whole group effort it is hard to state my individual accomplishments throughout this task. Performing as the teacher in this video didn't particularly improve my skill in any 'media' skill relevant to this post.
However, I learnt how to edit properly on the mac's which helped extremely when editing our music videos. It could have helped more if we actually used iMovie on our music video rather than premier elements, however it is a similar kind of concept. I also learnt that it is important to group shots together to ease shooting and be as time effective as possible.
A2 MUSIC VIDEO;
Origniality
Judging the final product I wouldn't say that our video is original. We cherrypicked ideas that we both liked from different music videos from this genre in order to create a video that we were both satisfied with. We took a lot of inspiration from Bombay Bicycle club's 'Always Like This' as we felt the shots could also fit into the song that we chose. (Wreckin' Bar - The Vaccines). Contrasting on this point I would say that it is extremely different to be orignial in this day an age, especially with all the contstraints that we had in creating our music video.
Imagination and Inventiveness
We did extensive research and planning so we could both agree on a plan for our music video that we were both satisfied with, although I think it would be fair to judge our imagination to its full extent if we had an unlimited budget, as much time as we needed and all the equipment that is used to create existing music videos as this video isn't a true test of our imagination.
Inspiration
The inspiration for our music video stemmed from many different ' alternative ' music videos. As I have said, we cherry picked the conventions we liked the most and incorporated them into our video. It would be fair to say that our whole music video was inspiration from somewhere, as it would be increasingly difficult to find a video which invents new conventions and proves to be completely original.
Resourcefulness
Considering the time, money and equipment boundaries I would say we were very resourceful. We made the most of our time and what we had in order to create a product that was to the best of our ability. Although with 5 of us being involved in creating the video, it was very hard for us all to have spare time to make it at the same time. Another issue with time would be the school computers which used twice as much time as intended due to software not loading or clips not being transferred to the computer properly. This became increasingly frustrating throughout the editing process.
Vision
Our vision for this video was reasonably similar to our final product. However I think an honest answer would be that we had greater expectations to what our video would turn out like in comparsion to what it did. I'm not saying I was disappointed in our final product but if we hadn't had high expectations our video would probably not have been what it was.
How creative do you think you've been?
Again, I do not think we have been as creative as we possibly could have been as we used existing ideas in the video that we finished creating. However arguing against this would be the statement that 'originality is dead' and that being truly 'creative ' is not something you can measure - merely an opinion.
What has prevented you from being more creative?
The obvious issues that have prevented us from being more creative is time constraints, financial constraints and equipment constraints. These are all reasonably self explanatory and expected of us as none of us had hundreds to spend on a music video, we had deadlines and were provided with the mediocre equipment from school. Saying this everyone in our year has been in more or less the same boat, thus not making anyones video too drastically different concerning these constraints than another.
A2 ANCILLARY TASK
Taking heavy inspiration from Vampire Weekend's 'Contra' I would say my digipack isn't as original as it perhaps could have been. However I wasn't aiming to make something 'cutting edge' and original. I was aiming to make something that fitted my genre and suited the band look I was trying to achieve. I would say that my poster is slightly more original as I didn't have an existing product that I based my poster on, as I played around with the layout and went with what was the most aesthetically pleasing and looked like a real magazine advert for an album.
I used the conventions of existing digipack/poster products because if they weren't succesful, they wouldn't be used.Imagination and Inspiration
I would say that I was imaginitive within the boundaries of the task set. I wanted something that looked realistic without being too ambitious. I used the colour of my models t-shirt to make the advert/digipack look less bland for one.
Then again my 'imagination' could be discredited as I took heavy inspiration from Vampire Weekend's 'Contra' for my digipack.
Resourcefulness
I was as resourceful as possible with this task, ensuring I made the best of my time out of school and in school in order to shoot, compose and edit the photos in order for the best results. I don't think I wasted time on this task as I enjoy editing and manipulating images on photoshop.
Vision
I didn't have a specific 'vision' I just knew that I wanted it to look as though it fitted in with the indie culture. I was pleased with how it turned out and was very lucky with the pictures that I took.
How creative do you think you've been?
I would say I have been more creative on this task than on my video as I enjoy this kind of work a lot more than creating a video, thus I am more motivated to make something good as I know I can use photoshop and manipulate images well. However this could be argued as I took a lot of inspiration from other texts for my digipack; questioning my creativity.
OVERALL
Has a set menu of tasks made it easier to be creative or would you have preferred a free choice on what to make? Where you pinned down too much by the task? Or did it free you up to be creative with in the boundaries of the task?
I think with all of the tasks, been given set boundaries was a good idea. In my opinion it uses the same concept of been asked to write an essay without a title; extremely difficult to do. I liked the freeness of what you can make within the task e.g what genre of music magazine as that gave your work an identity and made sure you could put your own 'stamp' on it so to speak.
I think been given these boundaries within the task it allowed you to be more detailed as we were given more guidance as opposed to everyone doing a different task and the teacher not being able to specialise.
Wednesday 1 February 2012
Random Cover
Using the task set by Mr Ford, this is the random cover that was produced by random search websites.
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